The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet: Know What Goes Into Every Bite with More Than 200 of the Most Deliciously Nutritious Homemade Baby Food ... Your Baby Will Love

by Karin Knight, Tina Ruggiero

The Top of Its Class! The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet was nominated for the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals annual Cookbook Awards competition. Considered the gold standard among cookbook awards and widely lauded as the most selective in the industry, the IACP has been presenting its cookbook awards for more than 25 years to promote quality and creativity in culinary writing and publishing. Past nominees include Julia Child, Mark Bittman, and Thomas Keller, among others. Food Made with Love Is Food You Can Trust! Preparing simple, homemade food in the comfort of your own kitchen is one of the greatest gifts you can give your little one. Not only does it allow you to nourish your child with the most pure and wholesome ingredients, but it also gives you the peace of mind of knowing what has gone into every bite your baby takes. Full of recipes to suit every age and stage—from six months all the way to twenty-three months— The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet shows you how simple and easy it is to prepare food your baby will go absolutely ga-ga for. From quick purées like Mighty Tasty Blueberry and Pear Mash and No-Cook Prune Purée, to new and nourishing meals like Sweet Omelet Surprise and Finger-Lickin’ Good Lentils and Potato with Cheese, you’ll find it a breeze to prepare any and all of the recipes you and your little one fancy. And to make things even more easy-peasy, you’ll find each recipe also Make your own super-delicious, super-nutritious homemade baby food today—it’s guaranteed to be the best thing that’s ever crossed the high chair!

Genres: Cookbooks, Parenting, Nonfiction, Food, Cooking, Family

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would probably not buy this book again. The recipes are pretty uninspiring though the titles are great. The book also has a few recipes that call for juice- seriously?! Why the added sugar? The one nice thing is that it includes nutritional information for all the recipes so it's nice to have as a cross reference.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some great tips and recipes but also some misinformation. While I enjoyed the detailed nutritional information, sometimes it didn't add up - for instance, a recipe combining two types of purees, one with no iron and the other with 0.2 mg of iron, would somehow state that the combination recipe had something like 0.7 mgs of iron. The discrepancy was frustrating and made me trust the book's information less.

I also didn't love its support for juice, which I think is overly sugary for babies and should be avoided in favor of breastmilk or formula and water.

[Claire Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very out of date - recommends giving juice to babies.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could say I decided to make baby food because I thought it would be much better for my baby’s health or much more cost efficient. The truth is… After running a few out of town trips where I made sure the kids were stocked with snacks, but not the adults.. I started drinking those conveniently pouched foods (you know, to not pass out. Dumb.) and thought… Hey.. this is kind of convenient and nutritious.

Of course, if it wasn’t for the little one, I would have never followed it through (and yes, it benefits him more in the end than I. How it should be ☺ )

Anyways.. This is the start of my baby cookbook reviews for those of you who aren’t obsessive like me..

Chapters:
0.) Introduction: High-Fives from the High Chair
1.) 1,2,3, Homemade: Your Pure and Simple Guide to making the Best Baby Food on the Planet
2.) Feeding Your Baby the Best – from Six to Eleven Months
3.) Feeding Your Toddler the Best – from Twelve to Twenty-Three Months
4.) Getting the Best Early Nutrition – A Reference for You Baby and Toddler
5.) Special Considerations
6.) Resources and References
Includes a “Look at What We’ve Made” Feedback Chart.

Pros to this book:
-Gives tips on how and when to introduce foods
-Includes the “Dirty Dozen” foods to buy organic
-Uses Ice Cube method
-Offers various ways to cook (bake, boil, microwave)
-Recipes:

-Icons include Snowflakes, to help show which recipes freeze well
-Suggests how long recipe will stay good in fridge
-provides nutritional facts
-has the cutest recipe names ever
-recipes build on one another

Cons to this book:
-Doesn’t offer instructions for steaming
-Lists few single-veggie/fruit recipe, would like to have seen more
-Uses Juice… often. Not something I’m a fan of.
-Mixes breastmilk/formula often. I didn’t pump enough excess for this to make sense and wanted to be able to use the fruit/veggies for my own smoothies too.

In the end, I liked this cookbook, but was looking for something that focused more on how to make the single-flavor purees from all fruits/vegetables rather than combinations.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will start with what I liked about this book. There is a section in the back that focused on nutrition... explaining the benefits of vitamins, fiber, etc.

A lot of the recipes had multiples ways to make them but overall, I thought the abundance of detail made the book busy and overwhelming. It left me wondering at times if any information has changed since the book was published around 10 years ago.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wide variety of purees and lots of interesting combinations of recipes going forward. I like the breakdown of month by month.

[Jackie Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some good purées, but there was a lot I disagreed with. Using juice for baby food? There’s no reason to give an infant or small child juice unnecessarily.

[Ariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommending juice to an infant?? No thanks.

[Tina Ruggiero · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet is the single most comprehensive baby food book available today. Written by two highly-respected experts, the book contains more than 200 delicious, wholesome and natural baby food recipes along with guidance that takes the guesswork out of cooking for baby. It’s a must-have for moms, dads and grandparents alike!

Each recipe is simple to make and doesn’t require complicated steps or expensive ingredients. Most recipes can be made in 10 minutes or less! The book also provides information about what foods are safe to introduce to baby from weaning to two years of age.

Praised by pediatricians, The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet features:

Nutrition analysis for every recipe
Beautiful full-color photographs
An easy-to-spot snowflake snowflake symbol symbol next to recipes that are perfect for freezing
Valuable information about infant nutrition and oral care, allergies and optimal development
A fun recipe evaluation chart, so you can rate what meals your little one likes best

From baby’s first purées to meals for the active toddler, the recipes and suggestions in The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet pave the way for your child to enjoy a lifetime of good health!

[Heather M L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! Not only does it have a ton of recipes, but it's organized so nicely by age and foods that are age appropriate for baby. In the back is a rating sheet for each recipe so you can mark if baby liked it, and whether you would want to make it again. There's tons of other health information about organics vs. non, teething, vitamins, and how to incorporate breast milk into recipes if you'd like to as well. There are so many different recipes, utilizing so many different foods that it would be tough to have this book and not find something baby would like. Indeed like the cover of the book says many of the recipes are very simple. It's a very simplified book, easy to use, and easy to read. If you're considering making your own baby food then this is the book to read, and definitely the one to start with. I was so excited to get this book that I read it right away when it came.
Since being pregnant I've been too distracted to read as much as I normally do, but reading about baby is so much fun, and this book was very informative!

[Lauren Schmouder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for starting on the road to homemade baby food! It has wonderful recipes for slightly older babies (those who can eat mixed foods) and is full of good hints and tricks. However, keeping it from getting a full five stars is that it has inaccurate feeding guidelines. It is well known that an infant should start on vegetables before fruits, and is recommended by doctors and experienced parents to start them on green vegetables before any other vegetables, as they are the least sweet. This book encourages you to feed your child fruits from the beginning, which can lead to a picky eater, a child who refuses to eat their vegetables, a predisposition to choose junk foods (especially sweets) over healthful foods, and many other poor eating habits. Beyond that issue, however, this is a good springboard for parents who want to feed their child the best foods possible!

[Kels · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide, but nothing groundbreaking. I used it for a few ideas, that's about it. I disliked that the author presented info as if it was set in stone, like what month you should introduce foods. Sure you should wait on some, but it's not going to matter if your baby eats broccoli a couple weeks before the author okays it. She is also downright wrong about juice. Several different healthcare sources have advised me to hold off on juice until my baby is much older than what this author recommends in order to prevent cavities and because juice is not nutritionally the same as eating fresh fruit (the exception is prune juice, which we use sparingly for constipation). Anyway, this has some nice ideas and generally has good advice, just take it with a grain of salt.

[Allison Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I knew I wanted to make my baby's food but honestly the idea of actually doing it was a bit overwhelming. That's when I headed to the book store and found this great book. This book has so much useful information along with great recipes (with pictures). I love how it breaks down recommended foods for different ages in months. I also love that it is written by two licensed professionals, something that you don't always get on-line. Now that my husband and I are more proficient in making baby food we use the recipes a little less. However, we still refer to it quite a bit for recommendations on what to feed out baby at x months. Very useful!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gift from my dear friend Becky. Amazing book that I know will be my "go-to" for all baby recipes! I have been discouraged by the gross commercial baby food products and this book is the perfect remedy! A must read for all parents (and expectant parents) of infants and toddlers.

****re-read during the spring /summer 2012. Again, a fabulous book. The best baby food book on the market!

[Josette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was exactly the easy resource I needed. Sure, some no-brainer-why-didn't-I-think-of-that recipes in there, but they were "aha!" moments for me realizing I had more food fun options already in my fridge than I realized. It made the process of feeding my babe so much less overwhelming than I made it to be (ya, could be just my issue). I just want the kid to eat...and eat healthy....

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some good recipes. Although,the doctor said not to give my 9 month old dairy until she is a year old. That babies have a hard time with the protien in dairy. So perhaps this would be a good cook book for older childern and toddlers.

[Elizabeth Puntolillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great one. Everything has nutritional info and the book provides recipes which are "real food" that toddlers are going to want to eat while also providing new ideas and a lot of variety. Arranged by age group. Well-balanced info on childhood nutrition as well.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! And I can't wait to try some of these recipes myself. They go from soimple recipes to more complex as children get older. And they let you know what will freeze well for later use.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book...a definite read for anyone wanting to make their own baby food. Has great information combined with great recipes that are categorized by age group.

[Katie Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this one! HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ALL NEW PARENTS!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource with great ideas!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, baby recipes are usually "(1) cook, (2) puree, (3) serve." True. But I like that this cookbook includes recipes for the WHOLE family (when the time comes). Yay for family dinners!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple recipes - made in 10 minutes or less! Definitely one to come back to.

[Nathan Huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a cookbook for babies. One bonus is that it gives a list of foods at what age.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the tips and recipes in this one! So practical and easy recipes!

[Charli Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book! It's a great one to have as a reference and to expand and do your own recipes!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wholesome recipes, easy to prepare and the book was organized wonderfully. I definitely recommend this parents, especially first time parents who want to make their own baby food.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok, there are a few recipes I will try. Overall just slightly disappointed. The RealSmart baby food solution book is good as well.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes! Want to own it.

[dara · Rating 5 out of 5]

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